Secular and Liminal: Discovering Heterogeneity among Religious Nones

Secular and Liminal: Discovering Heterogeneity among Religious Nones

This study examines the stability of religious preference among people who claim no religious preference in national surveys (i.e., religious nones). Using data from the Faith Matters Study, General Social Survey, and American National Election Study, the study shows that about 30 percent of religious nones in the first wave of the survey claim an affiliation with a religious group a year later. The percentage of religious nones remained stable in the two waves because a similar number of respondents moved in the opposite direction. Using various measures of religiosity, the study shows that most of these unstable nones report no significant change in religious belief or practice. The authors call them liminal nones as they stand halfway in and halfway out of a religious identity. They conclude by discussing the implications of their findings on the controversies surrounding the rise of religious nones in recent years.

Published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49 (4): 596-618.

Identity
Religion

Robert David Putnam

Chaeyoon Lim

Carol Ann MacGregor

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01533.x (Published version)

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